Referenews

When walking around downtown Boise, it’s hard to ignore the vast amount of public art that decorates the city’s sidewalks, buildings and streets.

It’s because of an initiative that began over 20 years ago when the Boise City Council passed an ordinance directing that 1.4% of capital project funds — money for building and infrastructure improvements — be set aside for “the integration of public art into city facilities.”

One of the more notable and long-lasting projects popped up in the early 2010s and has continued growing ever since: the Traffic Box Art Project.

From sneaky origami raccoons to electric eels in downtown Boise, colorful and exuberant art decorates the once-boring traffic boxes, which control the streetlights, around the city.

“It’s an annual program that we fund every year,” Stephanie Johnson, Boise art program manager, told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. “This program is an entry point for artists that are emerging, who maybe have never been through the public art process before, and have never had to submit a proposal to be reviewed by a selection committee.”

A total of 227 traffic boxes wrapped in colorful artwork align some of Boise’s streets, mostly in the downtown area.

While it’s fun to notice them when out and about and to discover your favorite traffic boxes, the Boise City Department of Arts and History has an interactive map showing the location and pictures of all 227 boxes.

From there, you can find the artist and the name of the artwork. The department also has a search function to browse pictures and locations of all the boxes in one spot.

A growing collection

The city recently commissioned six new pieces of artwork to decorate traffic boxes in the Collister and South Boise Village neighborhoods.

A total of 88 artists applied, Johnson told the Statesman, from which a committee composed of neighborhood association representatives, a local artist, a Boise arts commissioner and a nearby elementary school teacher chose the six winners.

Artists are awarded $1,000 if their art is chosen, and they then work with a local sign fabricator to make sure their art transfers correctly to the vinyl wrap.

Boise’s Department of Arts and History works with the Ada County Highway District to wrap the boxes and sends out a call for art every year, asking local artists to submit their artwork. Funding comes from the Percent-for-Art Fund, Capital City Development Corporation, Neighborhood Investment Program, Downtown Boise Association and the Energize Our Neighborhood Program.

Artists can submit any artwork they wish, so long as it fits the shape of the box wrap, but some neighborhoods have specific preferences.

This past year, the Collister neighborhood opted for pieces of art depicting nature. But aside from neighborhood preferences, the artwork can be drawings, digital and even mosaic photography, Johnson said.

“Traffic box wraps are really cool in that an artist who works in any kind of medium,” Johnson said. “As long as they can digitize it and make that fit within the template for a traffic box to be printed on a vinyl wrap, anything goes.”